Review

Macromedia Dreamweaver 3
Fireworks 3 Studio

By, Ken Dirschl, Cyberwalker Media Syndicate

Dreamweaver 3 Fireworks 3 Studio is an integrated package that combines two powerful programs to provide everything you need to design, author and publish a Web site quickly and easily.

Previously sold as two separate packages, Macromedia has combined the two almost seamlessly.

Fireworks 3 is an image design and editing program that allows drawing and manipulation of vector and bit-map images, offering menus and toolbars that are intuitive and easy to use.

Once the design is created, Fireworks 3 shows its true strength. The slicing tool allows a graphic layout to be divided and each slice is assigned a role.

For instance, if the slice is a button, a behavior can be attached that turns layers into hyperlinked roll-over states that display navigation options when you roll your mouse over the button. Fireworks 3 creates the rollover in JavaScript, which is then imported into Dreamweaver 3.

A slice can be a graphic or some text and leaves an empty space for HTML (hypertext markup language) to be inserted. The slice tool also allows the creation of clickable "hot spots," if an image map is desired. By mapping such spots in an image where a link can be clicked, image maps can make one image do the work of many hot-linked buttons or other images.

When exported, the slices create their own HTML code, which is used by Dreamweaver 3 to reassemble the slices into tables -- exactly as they were laid out in Fireworks.

The beauty of this is that the designer is released from the constraints of HTML. The designer can lay out a graphically rich page in a graphics environment and the software recreates it perfectly in HTML.

Another powerful feature of Fireworks 3 is its ability to optimize and preview exports. With this tool, the user can determine the file size and format of the graphics. Fireworks 3 will drop out colors to achieve a determined size, with a report on how many seconds it will take to load on a 28.8 modem.

Slices can be individually optimized, so that elements of the layout can be reduced to the smallest possible size without affecting the clarity of denser regions.

Once the layout is sliced and exported, it can be imported into Dreamweaver 3, where slices are reassembled as tables. All the JavaScript behaviors are retained but can still be amended or removed.

Dreamweaver 3 boasts a site map view, which allows the user to easily link pages together or even create the blank pages from the site map. In this way, the architecture of the whole site is immediately accessible.

Dreamweaver 3 uses a "round-trip HTML" feature, which allows the user to make changes to the code that are applied directly to the layout, and vice versa.

For instance, if the user clicks on an area of the layout, the code for that area is highlighted in the HTML window. This makes it easy to follow the code and make changes if necessary. The HTML is color-coded to make it easier to navigate.

In addition, Dreamweaver 3 has a "clean up HTML" command that will remove redundant tags, comments and other artifacts often created by external editors.

The site-map view is also Dreamweaver's integrated FTP (file transfer protocol) program. This makes uploading the site convenient and allows synchronization. When files are updated, Dreamweaver 3 will upload only those that have changed. The local site is replicated on the server and it is easy to make changes and upload them, or to back up the remote site onto the local drive.

Dreamweaver 3 allows other users to make changes by "checking out" files, as from a library. When a file has been "checked out," it becomes read-only until it is checked back in. This makes Dreamweaver 3 useful not only to an individual designer but to an entire Web development team -- with no fear of overwriting someone else's work.

Dreamweaver 3 Fireworks 3 Studio is a powerful, all-in-one package for simple Web site development. As with all Macromedia products, the learning curve is fairly steep. But the steps are easily understood and the many advanced features are so rewarding that they motivate the learning process.

Occasional glitches do require that the user has an understanding of HTML and JavaScript to fix them. The FTP program often works more poorly than freeware versions available on the Internet.

But with Dreamweaver 3 Fireworks 3 Studio, Macromedia has done with HTML, DHTML, JavaScript and other Web tools what Windows did with DOS (disk operating system) -- made it invisible.

Reviewer's rating: 4.5 / 5

Comments:
Macromedia Dreamweaver 3 Fireworks 3 Studio is an elegant, easy-to-use and powerful software package for designing and publishing Web sites.

System requirements:
Windows: Pentium II or higher, Windows 95/ 98/ NT 4 or later, 64 MB of RAM, 640x480, 256 color display, 100 MB of free hard disk space.
Macintosh: Power PC processor (G3 or higher recommended), System 8.1 or later, 64 MB of free RAM, 640x480, 256 color display, 100 MB of free hard disk space, Adobe Type Manager V. 4 or later with Type 1 fonts.

More info: http://www.macromedia.com

Price: $399 US, $660 Canadian